First of all, I’m jealous of anyone who owns this hardback copy because the water on the front of the dust jacket is bumpy and I think that’s cool. I read this on my Kindle Fire, borrowed from the library. Not the same as bumpy water.
This picture is not bumpy. FYI.
I was worried I was starting to get sick of this psychological thriller genre — it’s definitely popular at the moment and apparently it’s all I’m reading. This book is also super popular with book clubs, which can be sort of a toss up whether or not that’s positive. The one genre I refuse to read is historical fiction, and for some reason lots of book clubs embrace it — read a biography, if you want to know the history of something. But don’t read The Other Boleyn Girl and pretend like it really happened. It didn’t. But I digress. And also, I’m going to do my best not to spoil this book, but I want to discuss it in detail, so you have been warned. There may be spoilers ahead. But if you’re anything like me, you wouldn’t be reading a review of a book if you didn’t want some details about it. Or you’ve already read it, and then I’m not spoiling anything for you. Either way — you have been warned.
This book, not surprisingly, has the same issues as In a Dark, Dark Wood, Ruth Ware’s first novel. Once the mystery is solved, the character still has to find a way out of their situation, and that part drags and drags until the point I found myself not caring what happened and the details didn’t seem to matter at that point. For sure the whole first half was great, but by the time I was 70% done (I told you, I read on the Kindle Fire — you don’t get legit page numbers), I already knew what was happening and it was time to start wrapping up the story. I think Ware could have kept the mystery going a little longer and you’d have a better (and shorter) payoff at the end.
Lo, like Lenore in her previous novel, is a bit of a downer. To the point that I’m guessing Ware might be a bit of a loner herself. However, in The Woman in Cabin 10, Lo is much less obnoxious and at least tries to have some fun. She gets burgled right before leaving on a work assignment, and I’m pretty sure that would make me miserable as well. It was very Agatha Christie with the cast of characters, and maybe a few less people would have made it easier to follow. But you’re immediately on her side and you know she isn’t crazy about what she saw. And realistically, she would have started questioning Ben much sooner if she wasn’t such a flawed person. Not that it mattered, but I’m just saying. I also found it funny that she never tried to write even once about the experience. What if nothing bad had happened at all and they docked like they were supposed to and she didn’t have anything completed? She totally would have gotten fired.
Overall, this was a great book. Not re-readable, but memorable for sure. Ware keeps you interested and enough things happen that you start questioning different characters and their motives. And the ending is a surprise, although it comes too soon. The ultimate ending is satisfying and leaves some mystery behind for discussion. I like when the very last page teases with something more — The Circle has an ending like that too. Maybe it’s a requirement of the genre.
Not as good as The Girl Before, but a close second. Now that I mentioned it, what’s up with the titles of these psychological thrillers?
The Girl Before
The Girl on the Train
Behind Her Eyes
Behind Closed Doors
The Woman in Cabin 10
No way that’s a coincidence. My eyes are narrowing.
I’m in New York for the month of August on detail for work, which is fun kind of, but I miss my boyfriend and my dogs a lot. I am currently watching Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami and I think it’s the most addictively awesome show I have ever seen. I don’t even care about the stupid Kardashians, but this show is hilarious and full of drama, and I’m pretty sure that guy Scott is the guy Christian Bale played in American Psycho. Seriously, the psycho. If you have a free half hour sometime, they always play the episodes on E!, so watch one sometime. It’s hilarious. Anyway, other than that it’s work work and more work. We are working more overtime than normal because we’re on detail and they put us up in a sweet hotel. Speaking of working, I am super tired and am going to go to sleep pretty soon. Yawn.
I am currently rewatching the season premiere of LOST season 6, and I have noticed a few extra things that I missed the first time around. First off, apparently they aren’t still in 1977. I totally missed that scene the first time – they show up at the Swan wreckage after Desmond blew it up. So are they in 2005 or whenever that was? Or have they caught up to the same time period as John Locke and Sun and Richard? Second, I guess Jacob really is dead – but what was he? He could be just like Richard maybe and just never ages, but then how does he have magical special powers and can bring people to the island but can die that easily – because let’s face it, it was way too easy to kill him and Mr. X Smoke Monster Man should have been able to do that forever ago. Speaking of people who die really easily, let’s talk about Jacob’s people who find John Locke’s body. They died way too fast and way too easily, which leads me to believe that when Jacob dies and says “they’re coming,” he isn’t tal...
Okay, first of all, the Grammys sucked this year. Hard. Harder than last year, which was pretty much impossible. The performances were lame overall and off-key, and they only presented a handful of awards. Lady Gaga and Elton John started the night off with a basically lame performance – they’re both great but it was dull. I also don’t understand why they give out so few awards – I had no idea Beyonce won six awards until I read the paper this morning, and that’s crazy. I looked forward to the Oscars in March, because it hardly ever disappoints – unlike the Grammys. Ugh.
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